Event And/Or Location Based Media Capture And Upload Platform Based On A URL Or A Link Associated With A Machine-Readable Optical Label

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method and a media acquisition system (MAS) for accessing media from attendees of an event are provided. The MAS receives registration and event details from an organizer of the event and generates an online portal with media request elements. The MAS generates a shareable link to the online portal in multiple formats for rendering the shareable link to the attendees. The MAS displays the online portal on electronic devices of the attendees that access the online portal through the shareable link in one of the formats. The MAS acquires media from the electronic devices of the attendees agreeing to share the media with the organizer through a live media capture or an access of stored media. The MAS analyzes the acquired media according to organizer preferences and shares a selection of the analyzed media on preselected social media platforms on receiving a corresponding request from the organizer.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and the benefit of thenon-provisional patent application titled “Event And/Or Location BasedMedia Capture And Upload Platform Based On A URL Or A Link AssociatedWith A Machine-Readable Optical Label”, application Ser. No. 17/384,710,filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Jul. 24, 2021.The specification of the above referenced patent application isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Events are conducted the world over in offline, online, and mixedformats for innumerable occasions. Most of the events involve creationof media by participants for purposes ranging from capturing memories oftheir participation in the event for posterity to reporting on the eventto the masses. With one or more of smartphones, digital cameras, voicerecorders, and other recording devices in the hands of almost everyattendee at any event, the number of media generated at any event issubstantially large. Oftentimes, an organizer of an event attempts to orwould like to collect media such as images, photos, and videos capturedby attendees of the event to store them as memories, showcase them atoffices or other places, or use them along with reviews of the event formarketing purposes. Media collection typically involves requesting theattendees to share the media with the organizer personally, or to sendthe media over to an electronic mail (email) address, to a cloud storagesystem, or to send physical copies of the media by mail or through apostal service. These conventional methods of media collection requiresignificant effort and time from the organizer who usually lacks thesame prior to or during the event. Typically, the organizer has to reachout to the attendees after the event, assuming the organizer has theaddresses at which the attendees could be reached or the means to do soin the first place. As such, the organizer may miss out on mediagenerated by the attendees and quite often has to be satisfied withmerely the media the organizer himself or herself generated or hadprofessionals generate for them at the event.

Moreover, for attendees of an event who have been approached by theorganizer to share the media that the attendees generated in associationwith the event, the process of proactively selecting the media fromtheir electronic devices and composing an email or uploading the mediato a cloud storage system by logging in to a platform after the evententails substantial effort from the attendees after their enthusiasm ofthe event has simmered down. Many attendees may not consider selectingand sharing the media worth their time and effort. This again leaves theorganizer of the event in the lurch when it comes to accessing mediagenerated by the attendees of his or her event. With technology in itscurrent state, the ease of getting things done and even full-blownautomation are feasible in many scenarios. However, current usage oftechnology in the scenario of an event is either lax, leaving too muchto be done by attendees, thereby putting them off, or high-handed,involving a mandatory agreement by attendees to forgo media they mayotherwise not wish to share for any reason.

Hence, there is a long-felt need for a method and a system to preparefor aggregation of media from attendees of an event in a centrallocation for easy access by an organizer of the event prior to the eventwith minimal investment of effort and time to reduce any form offriction involved later on. Furthermore, there is a need for a methodand a system that makes it easy and appealing to attendees of an eventto share media comprising, for example, photos, audio, and videos, withan organizer of the event, reminding them at the event itself to avoidhaving to be troubled after the event has passed.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further disclosed in the detailed description.This summary is not intended to determine the scope of the claimedsubject matter.

The computer-implemented method and the system disclosed herein addressthe above-recited need for preparing for aggregation of media fromattendees of an event in a central location for easy access by anorganizer of the event prior to the event with minimal investment ofeffort and time from the organizer. Furthermore, thecomputer-implemented method and the system disclosed herein make it easyand appealing to attendees of an event to share media comprising, forexample, photos, audio, and videos, with the organizer of the event,allowing creation of media from within the system or quick uploading ofalready created media without needing to login or navigate to and withinmedia sharing websites, cloud platforms, or electronic mail (email)service platforms. The computer-implemented method and the systemdisclosed herein allow the attendees to share the media at the eventitself to avoid having to trouble the attendees for the media after theevent has passed.

The computer-implemented method and the system disclosed herein employ amedia acquisition system executable by at least one processor configuredto execute computer program instructions for accessing media fromattendees of an event. The media acquisition system receivesregistration and event details from an organizer of the event. The mediaacquisition system generates an online portal specific to the event andthe organizer based on the received registration and event details withmedia request elements. The online portal is accessible over a networkto the organizer and to users with information on the location of theonline portal on the network. The media acquisition system generates ashareable link to the generated online portal in multiple formats forrendering the generated shareable link to the attendees of the event,including options for the shareable link to be generated inmachine-readable optical label formats that are easily scannable withmobile electronic devices for fast access to the online portal. Theshareable link comprises information on the location of the onlineportal on the network. The media acquisition system displays thegenerated online portal on electronic devices of the attendees of theevent that access the generated online portal through the generatedshareable link in one of the formats.

The media acquisition system acquires media from the electronic devicesof the attendees of the event agreeing to share the media with theorganizer via the media request elements on the displayed online portalthrough a live capture of the media or an access of stored media with anoptional media enhancement. The media acquisition system allows multipleattempts by the attendees at the live capture and the choice of storedmedia before acquiring the media from the electronic devices. The mediaacquisition system analyzes the acquired media based on characteristicsof the acquired media comprising, for example, metadata, persons in themedia recognized using face recognition algorithms, social mediaprofiles of the recognized persons in cases where those persons haveshared their details with the media acquisition system, etc., inaccordance with preconfigured organizer preferences received as part ofthe event details. The media acquisition system shares a selection ofthe analyzed media on social media platforms preselected by theorganizer of the event on receiving a corresponding request from theorganizer. The request from the organizer received by the mediaacquisition system comprises the selection of the analyzed media that isto be shared.

In one or more embodiments, related systems comprise circuitry and/orprogramming for executing the methods disclosed herein. The circuitryand/or programming are any combination of hardware, software, and/orfirmware configured to execute the methods disclosed herein dependingupon the design choices of a system designer. In an embodiment, variousstructural elements are employed depending on the design choices of thesystem designer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description, isbetter understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings.For illustrating the invention, exemplary constructions of the inventionare shown in the drawings. However, the invention is not limited to thespecific methods and components disclosed herein. The description of amethod step or a component referenced by a numeral in a drawing isapplicable to the description of that method step or component shown bythat same numeral in any subsequent drawing herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates a method for accessing media from attendees of anevent.

FIG. 2 exemplarily illustrates an online portal with media requestelements generated by a media acquisition system for an event.

FIG. 3 exemplarily illustrates a flyer comprising a machine-readableoptical code with a shareable link to an online portal generated by themedia acquisition system and configured to be distributed to attendeesof an event.

FIG. 4 exemplarily illustrates a graphical user interface that the mediaacquisition system renders on an electronic device of an organizer of anevent for viewing and editing media organized in chronological order ofacquisition of the media.

FIG. 5 exemplarily illustrates a graphical user interface that the mediaacquisition system renders on an electronic device of an organizer of anevent for viewing and editing media tagged with details of a source ofthe media.

FIG. 6 exemplarily illustrates a graphical user interface that the mediaacquisition system renders on an electronic device of an organizer of anevent for viewing and editing media tagged as having duplicate copies ofthe media.

FIG. 7 exemplarily illustrates a graphical user interface that the mediaacquisition system renders on an electronic device of an organizer of anevent for viewing and editing three-dimensional renditions of qualifyingmedia.

FIG. 8 exemplarily illustrates a graphical user interface that the mediaacquisition system renders on an electronic device of an organizer of anevent for sharing media from the event.

FIG. 9 illustrates an architectural block diagram of an exemplaryimplementation of a system for accessing media from attendees of anevent.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Disclosed herein is a computer-implemented method and a system foraccessing media from attendees of an event. As used herein, the term“media” refers to content in different combined and individual formats,for example, audio, video, audiovisual, animations, and rich contentformats. The media comprises, for example, audio content, video content,music content such as a song, gaming content, etc., and any combinationthereof. Also, as used herein, the term “event” refers to any activityinvolving more than one person that is planned for a purpose. Examplesof events, as used herein, comprise anniversary parties, bar and batmitzvahs, school events, religious and church events, block parties,class reunions, family reunions, family or group trips or travels,fashion shows, graduation parties, promotional events, retirementevents, social gatherings, sweet sixteen parties, grand openings, teambuilding activities, themed parties, birthday parties, corporatemeetings, business or industry/technology conferences, weddings,pre-event and/or post-event events and any other planned activities. Forexample, for an events such as funerals and memorials, it would be a“pre-event event” to gather video for the funeral or the memorial eventitself. The computer-implemented method and the system disclosed hereinemploy a media acquisition system executable by at least one processorconfigured to execute computer program instructions for accessing mediafrom attendees of an event. The media acquisition system provides aplatform where a person attending an event is allowed, for example, toscan an optical label such as a quick response code (QR Code®), abarcode, etc., or access a uniform resource locator (URL) directly to bedirected to a webpage on the Internet specific to the event and record avideo or upload and share videos and images from the event with anorganizer of the event.

FIG. 1 illustrates a method for accessing media from attendees of anevent. The media acquisition system receives 101 registration and eventdetails from an organizer of the event. In various embodiments, themedia acquisition system receives the event details through a webpagevia a browser application, or through a standalone application on anelectronic device of the organizer, or through electronic mail (email),or through a graphical user interface (GUI) that the media acquisitionsystem renders on the electronic device of the organizer. The mediaacquisition system is accessible for interaction with the organizer ofthe event through input devices, for example, a keyboard such as analphanumeric keyboard, a joystick, a pointing device such as a computermouse, a touch pad, a digital pen, a microphone for providing voiceinput, a physical button, a touch sensitive display device, a trackball, a pointing stick, any device capable of sensing a tactile input,etc., activated by touch and/or voice commands. The registration detailscomprise, for example, credentials for the media acquisition system toidentify the organizer on subsequent accesses of the media acquisitionsystem by the organizer. The media acquisition system renders a numberof event type templates for different types of events to allow theorganizer to provide the event details. The event type templatescomprise, for example, wedding templates, birthday party templates,corporate event templates, graduation event templates, Independence Daytemplates, etc. The media acquisition system also allows the organizerto select a general template for providing the event details. The eventtype templates further comprise humorous templates, for example,templates that convey a message such as “congratulate me, I'm finallydivorced!”.

The media acquisition system generates 102 an online portal specific tothe event and the organizer based on the received registration and eventdetails with media request elements. The online portal is accessibleover a network to the organizer and to users with information on thelocation of the online portal on the network. The generated onlineportal comprises editing tools for portrayal of event information and aselection of multiple layouts to showcase the event to visitors of theonline portal. The visitors of the online portal are, for example, theattendees of the event. The editing tools allow portrayal of the eventinformation, for example, as text in a selection of fonts, sizes, andstyles such as varied typography, shapes of parts of textual content,effects including shadows, outlines, color, etc., or as audio clippings,videos, images, animation, augmented reality (AR) and/or virtual reality(VR) objects, custom visual effects, etc., or any combination thereof.The generated online portal provides a selection of multiple layouts toarrange data of the event information in a way deemed fit or appealingby the organizer of the event.

The media request elements are software constructs that use establishedprotocols for a secure transfer of files and user-entered data fromelectronic devices interacting with them on the online portal. The mediarequest elements comprise, for example, textual data, audio data, videodata, animation, or other data configured to guide users of theelectronic devices through the transfer of files and user-entered data.The media request elements appeal, via the portrayal of the eventinformation, to the visitors of the online portal to record or sharemedia related to the event with the organizer, for example, throughclickable links that request access to media capture devices and datastorage devices on electronic devices that the visitors of the onlineportal use to access the online portal. When the organizer uses theediting tools to make edits, the media acquisition system generates theonline portal again incorporating the edits over the previouslygenerated online portal. Consider an example where an organizer of anevent signs up with the media acquisition system by providingregistration details to create an account specific to the organizer, andusing event details, has the media acquisition system generate an eventwebpage. The organizer then uploads an event image and writes aparagraph about the event, while arranging and editing the image and thetext using the editing tools on the event webpage generated by the mediaacquisition system.

The event type templates that the organizer of the event uses to providethe event details to the media acquisition system provide a basis forthe event details and include elements such as font type, font size,font color, image border types, and additional page design elements thatcan be used for free or bought for a fee to assist the organizer inencapsulating the event details for the media acquisition system to usein the generation of the online portal. For example, the event typetemplates comprise provisions for entering a title for the event and aparagraph or two of text about the event that the organizer would likethe attendees of the event to peruse to instruct them on media files theorganizer would like to receive. Via the event type templates, the mediaacquisition system allows the organizer to select a time period for thegenerated online portal to be available for attendees to access as wellas the date of the event. After the generation of the online portal, themedia acquisition system allows the organizer to make changes to thegenerated online portal using the editing tools till the organizer findsa final generated online portal to be satisfactory.

The media acquisition system generates 103 a shareable link to thegenerated online portal in multiple formats for rendering the generatedshareable link to the attendees of the event. The shareable linkcomprises information on the location of the online portal on thenetwork. The formats of the shareable link to the generated onlineportal comprise, for example, a uniform resource locator (URL), anoptical label such as a QR Code® or a barcode, an augmented reality (AR)code, etc., along with information that the organizer of the event wantsto accompany the location information of the online portal on thenetwork. In an embodiment, the information accompanying the locationinformation of the online portal optionally comprises design elementsthat the organizer of the event chooses to include using the editingtools on the generated online portal. The media acquisition systemprovides the organizer of the event with choices on different methods ofsharing the online portal with the attendees of the event. For example,the media acquisition system allows the organizer to generate opticallabels such as QR Codes® or barcodes, that link directly to the onlineportal in templates of different types and sizes such as business-cardsizes, table sign-holder sizes, table assignment cards, flyers, andother styles and sizes. The media acquisition system also providesoptions to share a uniform resource locator (URL) of the online portalwith the attendees of the event, for example, via emails, text messages,messages on social media platforms, multimedia messages, chat messages,etc., through the Internet, a local area network (LAN), or atelecommunication channel. The shareable link in its multiple formatsfurther comprises textual content, audio content, video content,animation, or other media content, and design elements to accompany thelocation information of the online portal on the network to appeal tothe attendees of the event to engage with the online portal, in turnincreasing engagement of the attendees with the event.

The media acquisition system displays 104 the generated online portal onelectronic devices of the attendees of the event that access thegenerated online portal through the generated shareable link in one ofthe formats. The media acquisition system renders the display of theonline portal in compatibility with the type of electronic deviceaccessing the online portal. For example, the media acquisition systemtakes into account whether the electronic device is a mobile phone, or adesktop, or a laptop computer while rendering the display of the onlineportal to ensure a smooth user experience in viewing and navigating theonline portal. In an embodiment, the media acquisition system rendersthe display of the online portal on a browser application or astandalone application on the electronic device. Furthermore, if theorganizer of the event has used augmented reality (AR) and/or virtualreality (VR) elements in the generated online portal, the mediaacquisition system checks the electronic device for AR and VRcapabilities and where present, renders the display accordingly. Forexample, the media acquisition system renders VR objects in VR headsetsaccessing the online portal.

The media acquisition system acquires 105 media from the electronicdevices of the attendees of the event agreeing to share the media withthe organizer via the media request elements on the displayed onlineportal through a live capture of the media or through an access ofstored media with an optional media enhancement. The media acquisitionsystem comprises media tools that access media capture devices, forexample, cameras, microphones, screen capture cards, or other digitalprocessing hardware and data storage devices comprising memory storageunits on electronic devices with permission from users of the electronicdevices. The online portal displayed on the electronic devices of theattendees of the event comprises messages encouraging capture or uploadof media, as part of the media request elements, from the attendees ofthe event viewing the online portal. When the attendees engage with themedia request elements, thereby agreeing to share the media with theorganizer of the event, the media acquisition system activates the mediatools to acquire the media from the electronic devices. The mediaacquisition system allows multiple attempts at capturing media till theattendees of the event are satisfied with the captured media beforemaking the captured media available to the organizer of the event. Themedia acquisition system also allows attendees to change their choice ofstored media before acquiring the media from the electronic devices. Forexample, the attendees may re-record a video or an audio message orchange their choice of media on their electronic devices to be uploadedto the media acquisition system. The attendees do not have an overheadof having to create an account or otherwise interact with the mediaacquisition system to share the media with the organizer of the event.The media acquisition system offers minimal resistance or hurdles to theattendees in sharing media with the organizer to facilitate ahassle-free media sharing experience for the attendees of the event.

The media acquisition system analyzes 106 the acquired media based oncharacteristics of the acquired media in accordance with preconfiguredorganizer preferences. The preconfigured organizer preferences are partof the received event details. The characteristics of the acquired mediacomprise data that is only collected where this data is legallyobtainable and based on terms of service and a privacy policy agreed toby the attendees of the event sharing their media with the organizer ofthe event using the media acquisition system. The data in thecharacteristics of the acquired media comprise technical metadata andcontent metadata of the uploaded media, for example, attributes aboutthe media such as its height and width, pixels, type of compression,author or name of the photographer, and date and time the media wascreated. Moreover, the data in the characteristics of the acquired mediacomprise metadata, for example, length or duration of the media, time ofcapture, location of capture of the media, audio/video quality, etc.,persons in the media recognized via face recognition algorithms in themedia acquisition system, social media profiles of the recognizedpersons in cases where such details, among other details, have beenshared with the media acquisition system with permission from thecorresponding persons, etc. In an embodiment, the media acquisitionsystem performs online tracking of the electronic devices used by theattendees to upload the media. Data collected by the media acquisitionsystem for online tracking comprise, for example, details of theoperating system, screen resolution, browser and browser version,language, global positioning system (GPS) location, time zone, and areverse Internet Protocol (IP) address lookup to determine internetservice providers if possible. The online tracking further comprisesusing cookies for page-to-page or site-to-site user activity trackingwhen accessing the generated online portal and other first andthird-party tracking.

The preconfigured organizer preferences comprise preconfiguredenhancement of the acquired media, for example, increase of contrast ofimages, application of filters to videos or images, transcription ofaudio, etc., and selected organization of media according to criteriasuch as length of the media, time of acquisition, attendees from whomthe media is acquired, etc. Moreover, the preconfigured organizerpreferences comprise requests for extraction of data comprising, forexample, information on persons recognized in the media through facerecognition algorithms and relationships between the attendees sharingthe media with the organizer determined via artificial intelligence andmachine learning algorithms utilizing details furnished by the attendeesor the organizer with permission from the attendees. Furthermore, thepreconfigured organizer preferences comprise requests for sortingthrough the acquired media and grouping media showing common elementssuch as banners, posters, etc., used in the event after identifying thecommon elements using artificial intelligence and machine learningalgorithms, for example, for marketing future instances of the event. Ininstances where the acquired media is altered, for example, throughapplied enhancements to the media, during the analysis, the mediaacquisition system creates a copy of the acquired media to retain theoriginal media along with the altered version of the media.

The media acquisition system shares 107 a selection of the analyzedmedia on social media platforms preselected by the organizer of theevent on receiving a corresponding request from the organizer. Therequest from the organizer received by the media acquisition systemcomprises the selection of the analyzed media that is to be shared. Themedia acquisition system renders a graphical user interface (GUI) on anelectronic device used by the organizer of the event to access the mediaacquisition system. The media acquisition system validates the receivedregistration details prior to generating the online portal to identifythe organizer and renders the GUI that incorporates functions toorganize and share the analyzed media. While the media acquisitionsystem allows an attendee of the event to view only the media acquiredfrom their electronic device, the media acquisition system allows theorganizer to view, organize, and share all the acquired and analyzedmedia. The media acquisition system analyzes the acquired media andshares the analyzed media based on permissions received from theattendees sharing the media during the acquisition of the media by themedia acquisition system. In an embodiment, the media acquisition systemrequests the attendees sharing the media to agree with terms andconditions set for usage of the media acquisition system. The set termsand conditions outline rights of the organizer of the event, forexample, to use the media for social and marketing activities. Based onpreferences of the organizer of the event, in an embodiment, the mediaacquisition system shares the analyzed media with selected attendees ofthe event, or all the attendees, or third parties based on terms andconditions agreed by the attendees of the event. The media acquisitionsystem provides the organizer with options to connect social mediawebsites to the media acquisition system for automatic posting of mediathat has been approved by the organizer to the connected social mediawebsites. Moreover, the media acquisition system provides the organizerof the event with an option to automate the sharing of the analyzedmedia to a private repository on a data storage location on a systememploying the media acquisition system or at a preconfigured location ona network.

The media acquisition system analyzes the acquired media usingartificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to enhance theutility of the acquired media and to facilitate an improved experiencefor the organizer and the attendees of the event. During the analysis,in an embodiment, the media acquisition system also analyzes mediaacquired from the organizer of the event, thereby merging the mediaacquired from the attendees of the event with the media acquired fromthe organizer. In an embodiment, the media acquisition system allows theorganizer of the event to add data fields to the generated online portalas a submission form at their own discretion while making edits. Themedia acquisition system acknowledges the added data fields bygenerating an updated online portal with the edits. The mediaacquisition system displays the submission form on the generated onlineportal on electronic devices of the attendees of the event that accessthe online portal through the shareable link. The submission form, viathe data fields, requests information from the attendees. In anembodiment, the media acquisition system suggests to the organizer ofthe event a list of popular data fields that can be added to thesubmission form. For example, an organizer of a church event, or abusiness or industry/technology conference, or a team-building event maywant to ask particular questions at their own discretion when the mediais being uploaded by attendees of the event. A submission form may askhow the attendees are feeling currently, whether they enjoyed the event,or may ask the attendees to provide more demographic based informationsuch as a physical address to allow the organizer of the event to informpeople from certain areas of future events in their area, or ask theattendees if they would like to join a mailing list of the organizer forfuture events. In another example, at a wedding, the bride and groom mayuse the submission form to ask on which side of the family an attendeebelongs so they could share or group acquired photos based on additionaldata they would like to collect for the event.

The analysis of the acquired media comprises organizing, enhancing,selectively highlighting, tagging, and applying image recognition to theacquired media; creating montages, three-dimensional models, andaugmented reality objects from the acquired media, and exhibiting thecharacteristics of the acquired media. In an embodiment, the mediaacquisition system analyzes the acquired media to group attendees whomay know each other and suggest photos and videos where they occurtogether to them by sharing the analyzed media with those attendees. Inan exemplary illustration, consider a scenario where attendees of anevent have shared their social media profile handles with the mediaacquisition system through a submission form while uploading media tothe media acquisition system via the media request elements on theonline portal generated by the media acquisition system. The mediaacquisition system, while analyzing the acquired media, determines thattwo or more attendees portrayed in a media item are friends based ontheir social media profiles. Then, according to the preconfiguredorganizer preferences, media acquired from other attendees where thesetwo or more attendees feature together may be shared with each of thesetwo or more attendees, thereby incentivizing and encouragingparticipation in sharing media with the media acquisition system.Moreover, in an embodiment, the media acquisition system selects one ormore media items for viewing by the organizer when the organizer showsinterest in accessing media in which particular attendees feature.

The media acquisition system extracts the characteristics of theacquired media to analyze the media according to the preconfiguredorganizer preferences. For example, the media acquisition systemextracts a time of capture of images, audio, and video in the mediaacquired from attendees of an event and organizes the media in asequence of progression of the event, so that an organizer of the eventmay view the chronologically sequenced media on the graphical userinterface rendered by the media acquisition system. If configured in theorganizer preferences, the media acquisition system stitches togethermedia to create a slideshow or a montage in chronological order of thetime of capture of the media and creates collages of photos. In anexample, the media acquisition system allows organizers of events to usethe sequenced media resulting from the analysis performed by the mediaacquisition system to create documentaries, biographies, short films,etc. With approval from the organizer of the event, the mediaacquisition system shares the sequenced media with selected attendees orall attendees of the event, thereby incentivizing the attendees to sharemedia with the organizer in future events. In an embodiment, anorganizer of an event may announce an award for the best media sharedwith the media acquisition system through the event details receivedinitially by the media acquisition system or through an edit to thegenerated online portal. In the embodiment, the media acquisition systemdisplays the announcement in the generated online portal. Afteracquiring and analyzing media shared by the attendees, the mediaacquisition system ranks the analyzed media based on the characteristicsof the media comprising, for example, resolution, clarity, lighting,composition, etc., and/or on any criteria provided by the organizer ofthe event via the preconfigured organizer preferences.

In another embodiment, the media acquisition system analyzes theacquired media to automatically create montages of media for sharing theresults with the organizer of an event or the attendees of the eventaccording to the organizer preferences. For example, the mediaacquisition system allows the organizer of the event to generate a videoat the end of the event for displaying all approved media acquired fromcorresponding attendees in a video at the end of the event. In anexemplary scenario, at the end of a wedding event, the organizer mayalready have a video generated using the media acquisition system,thereby allowing the bride and the groom along with the attendees towatch all the messages or media items that were sent to the bride andthe groom together. In an embodiment, the media acquisition systemprovides an easy-to-use video editor with transitions, effects, andfeatures such as adding text over media, that the organizer may use toedit the analyzed media or the created montages of the media prior tosharing the analyzed media or the montages of the media. The organizerof the event accesses the video editor through the graphical userinterface (GUI) rendered by the media acquisition system on anelectronic device used by the organizer to access the media acquisitionsystem. The media acquisition system allows the organizer to make editsto the media and the created montages, create a collage of media items,or otherwise organize the media and share the media via the GUI.

As part of the analysis of the acquired media, the media acquisitionsystem selectively highlights particular aspects of the media to bringthese aspects to the attention of the organizer of the event. The mediaacquisition system highlights media items that are blurry or of a fileformat that is uncommon as these media items may be incompatible withmost electronic devices. As such, the media acquisition system assiststhe organizer in exploring the media for archiving, sharing, or usingthe media for marketing purposes. The media acquisition systemdetermines duplicates among the media based on the characteristics ofthe media and highlights the duplicates for deletion of the duplicatemedia by the organizer or automatically handles the duplicates accordingto corresponding preconfigured organizer preferences. Such a scenariooccurs if an attendee shares the same media more than once with themedia acquisition system in error or shares multiple media items, whichalready contain duplicates, in one attempt as in the case of sharing afolder of media. If configured in the organizer preferences, the mediaacquisition system automatically deletes duplicate media items.Moreover, the media acquisition system exhibits the characteristics ofthe acquired media to the organizer of the event, thereby aiding in adecision-making process of the organizer with regard to the apt use ofthe analyzed media. The media acquisition system tags media with thecharacteristics of the acquired media and provides sorting andorganizing functionality based on the tags in the graphical userinterface rendered by the media acquisition system on an electronicdevice used by the organizer to access the media acquisition system.

The media acquisition system executes image recognition algorithms toidentify objects, logos, people, precise locations, and other featuresin the media acquired from the attendees of an event. The mediaacquisition system applies face recognition to identify people andassociates the identified people with information about the attendees ofthe event received from the event details provided by the organizer orfrom data received from the attendees of the event who shared media withthe media acquisition system. The organizer of the event uses theinformation obtained via these algorithms for sharing details along withthe analyzed media with social media, the attendees of the event, orelsewhere, or for marketing purposes as specified in terms andconditions that the organizer discloses to the attendees of the eventvia the media acquisition system. In an embodiment, in accordance withcorresponding preconfigured organizer preferences, the media acquisitionsystem automatically shares details or organizes media based oninformation gleaned from the image recognition of the acquired media.

The media acquisition system parses through the acquired media as partof the analysis to organize the media, identify duplicates, tag mediaitems, highlight media items based on media quality and criteria definedin the preconfigured organizer preferences, and identify media with thesame subjects via image recognition. If multiple media items from thesame or different attendees feature the same subject, the mediaacquisition system composes the media items to generate dimensionalmodels and augmented reality objects and renders the composed models andobjects to the organizer of the event via the graphical user interface(GUI) displayed by the media acquisition system on the organizer'selectronic device for use, editing, or further refinement throughaddition of other media items by the organizer. For example, if multipleattendees photograph an object on display at an event from variousangles and share the photographs with the media acquisition system, themedia acquisition system identifies the object in each photograph viaimage recognition, correlates the photograph with other photographs ofthe object, and generates composite three-dimensional (3D) models andaugmented reality (AR) objects for the identified object as part of theanalysis of the acquired media. The media acquisition system renders thegenerated three-dimensional models and the augmented reality objects tothe organizer via the GUI displayed by the media acquisition system onthe organizer's electronic device. The media acquisition system allowsthe organizer to edit the rendered models and objects, for example, bysharing additional photographs with the media acquisition system. Themedia acquisition system improves the three-dimensional models and theaugmented reality objects with the additional data received from theorganizer. The media acquisition system allows the organizer to sharethe three-dimensional models and the augmented reality objects withothers.

In an embodiment, the media acquisition system notifies the attendees ofthe event who agreed to the acquisition of the media prior to theorganizer sharing the media acquired from the attendees, to seekpermission enabling the completion of the sharing of the media by theorganizer. In another embodiment, the media acquisition system providesan agreement to the attendees of the event for their consent to the useof their media by the organizer prior to the acquisition of their mediaby the media acquisition system. The media acquisition system allows theorganizer of the event to preselect the social media platforms to whichthe media acquisition system connects to enable sharing of the media onthose social media platforms during the generation of the online portalthrough the GUI rendered by the media acquisition system on theelectronic device of the organizer. Based on the preconfigured organizerpreferences and permissions from attendees of the event who shared mediawith the media acquisition system, while sharing the media approved bythe organizer on the social media platforms, the media acquisitionsystem tags the media with information of the attendees who captured themedia. Furthermore, the media acquisition system shares informationgleaned from the media via the extracted characteristics of the media,thereby yielding insights about the shared media that were unknown tothe attendees of the event who captured the shared media.

The media acquisition system, through the steps of thecomputer-implemented method disclosed herein, aggregates media fromattendees of an event to provide access to the media thus acquired tothe organizer of the event. The attendees of the event do not have tologin to share a moment from the event; the attendees merely have toscan an optical label, for example, a quick response code (QR Code®) oraccess a uniform resource locator (URL) of the generated online portalspecific to the event directly, and record a video or upload and sharevideos and images from the event with the organizer of the event. In anembodiment, the media acquisition system requests the attendees of theevent to agree to the terms of usage of the media acquisition system,which comprise, for example, sharing video footage or photos with theorganizer of the event, and acquiescing to a media release for usingfootage and images they share on social media, websites, etc.,optionally, for marketing purposes.

Insofar as availing the service of the media acquisition system byorganizers of events, the media acquisition system allows partners tocreate and manage multiple event holder pages and generic online portalsgenerated by the media acquisition system as templates for organizers toaccess and customize using the editing tools that the media acquisitionsystem provides for the portrayal of event information prior togenerating a final online portal configured for access by attendees ofthe event. The partners resell the service to multiple organizers ofevents. Partners comprise, for example, photographers, videographers,event planners, disc jockeys, masters of ceremonies, event venues, etc.

In an embodiment, the media acquisition system provides an optionalmedia enhancement function for enhancing photos and videos uploaded bythe attendees of the event on the fly during the acquisition of themedia, thereby providing the attendees with options via the mediarequest elements for utilizing the enhanced media for the upload, whichthe media acquisition system then acquires. The optional mediaenhancement function allows enhancements comprising, for example, imagefiltering, image enhancement, options of augmented reality such asadding virtual sunglasses or a hat to a subject in a video or an image,etc. In another embodiment, the media acquisition system allowspartners, for example, videographers and photographers, to retain a copyof an original photo captured prior to the enhancement for inclusion,for example, in a final event video they produce from the video theycaptured from the event as well as from videos and photos acquired fromthe attendees of the event. In this embodiment, the media acquisitionsystem provides an option for the partner and/or the organizer of theevent to save both copies of each media file, the original and theenhanced or augmented versions if any. The media acquisition systemallows merging of media acquired from the organizer of the event, thepartners, and the attendees of the event. In an embodiment, the mediaacquisition system allows the organizer of the event to configure asetting for automating the merging of the media, for example, in thecreation of slideshows or montages via the preconfigured organizerpreferences. The media acquisition system allows the organizer of theevent and the partners to use such automatically created media in makingdocumentaries, short films, biographies, etc., pertaining to the event.

The media acquisition system allows the organizer of the event to reviewall the media including footage and photos acquired by the mediaacquisition system from the attendees of the event. In an embodiment,the media acquisition system provides an approval button on thegraphical user interface (GUI) to allow the organizer to approve footageand photos to be automatically shared on social media platforms orwebsites that the organizer would like to link to the media acquisitionsystem. The organizer manages such settings for the functions of themedia acquisition system using the GUI rendered by the media acquisitionsystem to the organizer. As such, the media acquisition system automatesthe acquisition of the media from the attendees of the event, theanalysis of the acquired media, and the subsequent sharing of theanalyzed media onto a repository of the organizer of the event after thegeneration of a shareable link to a generated online portal andsubsequent distribution of the shareable link to the attendees of theevent. When the attendees start uploading media to the media acquisitionsystem, the media acquisition system allows the organizer to review theuploaded media and choose whether to approve the uploaded media to beshared to any linked social media platforms or websites. The mediaacquisition system allows the organizer to download all the uploadedmedia to a local storage on an electronic device of the organizer. Ifthe event was created by a partner, the media acquisition systemprovides access of the uploaded media to both the organizer and thepartner. In an embodiment where partners, for example, photographers andvideographers, are involved, the media acquisition system allows thepartners to collect the uploaded media in real time from the mediaacquisition system so that during and after the event, the partners mayedit and display the collected media to attendees or the organizer ofthe event.

Disclosed below are different types of events for which organizers andpartners employ the media acquisition system to provide access to mediafrom attendees. An example of an event is a technology conference wherean organizer of the technology conference employs the media acquisitionsystem. In this example, the media acquisition system allows theorganizer to create a webpage where attendees of the technologyconference are allowed to upload media collected on their electronicdevices as well as record footage from the event to be shared with theorganizer using a flyer containing scannable quick response (QR) codes.Consider an example of a technology conference with new technologies ondisplay. When attendees of the technology conference pick up their eventbadges, they also receive a scannable QR Code® that directs theattendees to a webpage created by conference holders through the mediaacquisition system. The conference holders also provide flyers with theevent QR Code® and information at the event. The webpage loads on theattendees' electronic devices and requests the attendees to bookmark thewebpage and use the webpage each time they see something exciting at theconference or want to share their experiences with the conferenceholders. As the attendees visit each booth and attend differentsessions, they may capture photos, record videos, and upload the mediafrom the event to the media acquisition system. Videos of peopleenjoying themselves and getting excited about all the new technologyprovide resources to the conference holders for use in future marketing.Also, during the event, the media acquisition system allows theconference holders to approve videos that will be automaticallypublished on their website and social media live throughout the event,thereby creating excitement and having the attendees visit differentbooths and access the technology they see on the website throughout thecourse of the conference. In an embodiment, the conference holders mayalso request post-event feedback from attendees in the form of media.Consider for example, an attendee recording a video about how much theattendee enjoyed the event or uploading a video to the media acquisitionsystem about one of the product demos they participated in and why theattendee liked the participating vendor's product.

Another scenario considers a use case for funerals and memorials. Forevents such as funerals and memorials, it would be a “pre-event event”to gather video for the funeral or the memorial event itself. Prior to afuneral or a memorial, an event holder may send an email or provide ascannable quick response code (QR Code®) in a publication or an obituaryinviting people to visit an online portal generated by the mediaacquisition system for the funeral. In this example, the online portalcomprises a message about the deceased and details of the funeral.During the days and weeks before the event, relatives and friends mayshare media comprising photos, videos, and audio clippings on the mediaacquisition system through the media request elements on the onlineportal accessed by them. The media acquisition system displays theshared media for review at the funeral to all attendees with priorpermissions from the people sharing the media with the media acquisitionsystem. Through the online portal, the media acquisition system providesan opportunity to people who cannot attend the event to share theirthoughts about their lost loved one. The media acquisition system allowsthe media to be shared on a website or on social media so that peoplewho could not attend the event may have the opportunity to see how thedeceased was remembered and honored. The media acquisition system allowsfamily members of the deceased to have memories of all the kind wordsand stories that were shared with them.

Yet another scenario involves a use case at a wedding. A bride and agroom may create an event page for their wedding using the mediaacquisition system and print out flyers with scannable quick response(QR) codes to leave on each table at a venue for the event. The flyerrequests attendees of the wedding to share videos and photos from theevent with the bride and the groom. During and/or after the event, themedia acquisition system allows the bride and the groom, using theirsmartphones or other electronic devices, to view the footage that isbeing acquired by the media acquisition system and approve the videosand photos for their social media shared connections that they havealready created when setting up the event page using the mediaacquisition system. The media acquisition system allows people who wereunable to attend the event to view the approved videos and photos viathe social media sharing platform selected by the bride and the groom toconnect to the media acquisition system for approved media. After theevent, the media acquisition system allows the bride and the groom toshare the media with their videographer who can incorporate all themedia files analyzed by the media acquisition system into a weddingvideo for the bride and the groom, where the attendees were able tocontribute to the production of the final wedding video.

A partner such as an event planner may provide the services of the mediaacquisition system to organizers of events. A partner account on themedia acquisition system allows creation and management of multipleevent pages. The partner may also offer the services of the mediaacquisition system to their clients as an add-on to their regular eventmanagement services. An organizer of an event with access to the mediaacquisition system through a partner receives the benefit of all thefeatures of an organizer that did not use a partner. An additionalbenefit of having a partner offer the services is that the partner canassist in registering with and providing event details to the mediaacquisition system, and editing the online portal generated by the mediaacquisition system. Partners typically also have another role at theevent or are hired by the organizer in another capacity for the event.

Another use case scenario considers a partner, for example, aphotographer who provides photography services at an event. Thephotographer who has been hired for the event may offer the organizer ofthe event the option of using the media acquisition system along withtheir services at an additional cost. After the event, the photographermay use the footage acquired and analyzed by the media acquisitionsystem along with the footage created by the photographer using theirown equipment. In another use case scenario, disco jockeys and mastersof ceremonies who have been hired for an event may offer the organizerof the event the option of using the media acquisition system along withtheir services at an additional cost. For example, if the disco jockeysprovide entertainment for an event, the disc jockeys can incorporate themedia acquisition system into their performance encouraging attendees torecord and upload media from the event for playing the media at theevent itself. The list of people who can be partners in the use of themedia acquisition system further comprises venue managers, caterers,event planners, wedding planners, stadium managers, theater managers,etc.

FIG. 2 exemplarily illustrates an online portal with media requestelements 204 generated by the media acquisition system for an event. Theonline portal is, for example, a webpage 201 with a basic layout asexemplarily illustrated in FIG. 2 , that portrays an image 203 and textalong with media request elements 204. A scenario involving the use ofthe computer-implemented method and the media acquisition systemdisclosed herein is, for example, a wedding event for a bride and agroom. The top left of the webpage 201 displays a logo 202 of theorganizer of the event. An image 203 with text superimposed conveys thecontext of the event and the online portal, that is, the wedding of thebride and the groom for whom hearty messages through media are solicitedfrom attendees of the wedding. The media request elements 204 comprisingtext guiding the attendees of the event to view the online portal ontheir electronic devices in sharing media with the organizer furthercomprise clickable links that request access to memory storage units andcameras in the electronic devices. A scroll bar 205 allows scrollingthrough the webpage 201 to navigate the webpage 201.

FIG. 3 exemplarily illustrates a flyer 301 comprising a machine-readableoptical code 305 with a shareable link to an online portal generated bythe media acquisition system and configured to be distributed toattendees of an event. The flyer 301 comprises a shareable linkgenerated by the media acquisition system to provide attendees of theevent access to the online portal exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 2 .The flyer 301 comprises design elements 302, an image 303 thatcorresponds to the event, for example, the wedding of the bride and thegroom, and associated text 304 bearing an appeal to the attendees toscan an inset optical label comprising the machine-readable optical code305, for example, a quick response code (QR Code®) or a barcode to bedirected to the generated online portal exemplarily illustrated in FIG.2 . Copies of the generated flyer 301 are printed from the mediaacquisition system and distributed to the attendees of the weddingevent, for example, through placement of the flyers 301 at tablesreserved for the attendees at a banquet hall where the wedding ceremonyis conducted. Therefore, for attendees at the wedding, through the flyer301 at each table, the media acquisition system provides a scannableoptical label with the QR Code® or the barcode containing a message, forexample, “Thank you for being part of this special occasion. Please scanthe QR code with your phone's camera and send a video message for thebride and groom! You can also upload photos and videos you have alreadytaken!”

FIG. 4 exemplarily illustrates a graphical user interface (GUI) 400 thatthe media acquisition system renders on an electronic device of anorganizer of an event for viewing and editing media organized inchronological order of acquisition of the media. The media acquisitionsystem analyzes media acquired from electronic devices of attendees ofthe event and renders the results of the analysis to the organizer ofthe event via the GUI 400 for viewing, editing, and eventual sharing ofthe analyzed media as disclosed in the detailed description of FIG. 1 .The media acquisition system renders the GUI 400 on an electronic devicethat the organizer uses for accessing the media acquisition system. TheGUI 400 displays a logo 202 of the organizer of the event as disclosedin the detailed description of FIG. 2 . The GUI 400 also displays anoptions sidebar 401 comprising the results of the analysis that theorganizer can choose from to navigate through the analyzed media. Themedia acquisition system categorizes the results of the analysis, forexample, as “organized”, “tagged”, and “processed”, referring toorganization of media, tagging of media, and processing of media,respectively. To navigate through the media in chronological order ofacquisition of the media by the media acquisition system, the organizerselects a time organization result 402 of the analysis as indicated, forexample, by a rectangular outline around the time organization result402 as exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 4 . The options sidebar 401displays the time organization result 402 under an expanded menu of the“organized” category among the results of the analysis. Alternatively,the media acquisition system allows the organizer to view mediaorganized by location or by type of media comprising, for example,images, audio, video, augmented reality objects, text, etc., on the GUI400 by selecting corresponding results under the “organized” category.

The graphical user interface (GUI) 400 displays a window heading 403,for example, “analysis”, referring to the results of the analysis of theacquired media that form the contents of the GUI 400. The GUI 400displays chronologically organized media 404 with date and time stampsin the main window area 405 based on the corresponding selection in theoptions sidebar 401. The media acquisition system renders thechronologically organized media 404 through the analysis of the acquiredmedia based on the characteristics of the acquired media in accordancewith preconfigured organizer preferences as disclosed in the detaileddescription of FIG. 1 . The chronologically organized media 404comprises media acquired from the attendees of the event, the organizerof the event, and partners, if any. The media acquisition system allowsthe organizer of the event and the partners to view and use thechronologically organized media 404 displayed in the main window area405 of the GUI 400 to create custom montages and slideshows to showcasethe progression of the event. Aggregating media received from theattendees of the event in chronological order alongside media capturedby the organizer and/or the partners allows for creation ofdocumentaries, short films, biographies, etc., with ease. Based onpreferences configured by the organizer and the partners, in anembodiment, the media acquisition system automatically merges some orall of the chronologically organized media 404 via context menu editingoptions (not shown) to generate montages, slideshows, etc., as disclosedin the detailed description of FIG. 1 .

In an embodiment, the media acquisition system groups thechronologically organized media 404 by different characteristics of themedia. The media acquisition system allows the organizer to select aname field 406 on the graphical user interface (GUI) 400 to group thechronologically organized media 404 by ascending or descending order ofnames of the attendees from whom the media acquisition system acquiredmedia through consecutive selections of the name field 406. A triangleindicator 407 on the GUI 400 indicates whether the groups of thechronologically organized media 404 are sorted in ascending ordescending order of the names of the attendees and cycles based onconsecutive selections of the name field 406. Grouping via the namefield 406 displays media acquired from each attendee in a chronologicalsequence of the acquisition in sections grouped according to the name ofthe attendees. Similarly, selecting an email field 408, a permissionfield 409, and a date field 410 on the GUI 400 groups thechronologically organized media 404 into sections based on emailaddresses of the attendees, permissions provided by the attendees forsharing of their media, and date of capture of the media, respectively.The date of capture of the media is relevant for events that span overmany days.

The graphical user interface (GUI) 400 provides a search field 411 forthe organizer of the event to search for specific media from among thechronologically organized media 404. The GUI 400 further comprises asettings sidebar 412 that allows the organizer to change viewpreferences, for example, for viewing the chronologically organizedmedia 404 as small or large thumbnails, as a list of media files, arotating gallery of media, etc. The settings sidebar 412 furthercomprises a media details section that displays the characteristics ofthe media selected in the main window area 405. The media acquisitionsystem gleans the characteristics of the acquired media as disclosed inthe detailed description of FIG. 1 . The options sidebar 401, the mainwindow area 405, and the settings sidebar 412, each have a scroll bar asexemplarily illustrated by the settings sidebar scroll bar 413.Furthermore, the GUI 400 comprises a status bar 414 that displays thenumber of items presented in the main window area 405 based on theselection of an option in the options sidebar 401. Furthermore, the GUI400 comprises a configure button 415 that allows configuration of theGUI 400 by the organizer of the event. The media acquisition systemallows the organizer to tweak elements of the GUI 400 by selecting theconfigure button 415, for example, to simplify the GUI 400 by removingthe name field 406, the email field 408, the permission field 409, andthe date field 410 from the GUI 400, or to further populate the GUI 400by adding additional fields such as sharing status of the media, etc.Through the configure button 415, the media acquisition system allowsthe organizer to change the layout of various sections of the GUI 400subject to restrictions set by the media acquisition system to prevent amalfunction of the GUI 400. The media acquisition system providesdifferent ready-made templates of GUI layouts for the organizer tochoose from via the configure button 415.

FIG. 5 exemplarily illustrates a graphical user interface (GUI) 400 thatthe media acquisition system renders on an electronic device of anorganizer of an event for viewing and editing media tagged with detailsof a source of the media. The media acquisition system analyzes mediaacquired from electronic devices of attendees of the event agreeing toshare the media and tags the acquired media based on the characteristicsof the media as disclosed in the detailed description of FIG. 1 . Themedia acquisition system renders the tagged media 502 on the GUI 400. Asexemplarily illustrated in FIG. 5 , the GUI 400 displays the logo 202 ofthe organizer of the event or a partner as disclosed in the detaileddescription of FIG. 2 . The GUI 400 exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 5also displays the options sidebar 401, the window heading 403, the mainwindow area 405, the name field 406, the triangle indicator 407, theemail field 408, the permission field 409, the date field 410, thesearch field 411, the settings sidebar 412, the settings sidebar scrollbar 413, the status bar 414, and the configure button 415 as disclosedin the detailed description of FIG. 4 . The options sidebar 401comprises an attendee tag result 501 that is selected by the organizerof the event as indicated, for example, by a rectangular outline aroundthe attendee tag result 501. The options sidebar 401 displays theattendee tag result 501 under an expanded menu of the “tagged” categoryfrom among the results of the analysis as disclosed in the detaileddescription of FIG. 4 . The organizer may also choose to view theanalyzed media tagged as “duplicate” that indicates presence ofduplicate copies of media or tagged as “low res” that indicates a lowresolution of images or videos in the media by selecting thecorresponding tag results under the “tagged” category.

The main window area 405 comprises attendee tagged media 502corresponding to the selection of the attendee tag result 501 in theoptions sidebar 401. The attendee tagged media 502 comprises tagsbeneath each media item that indicate the name of the attendee from whomthat media item was acquired by the media acquisition system. The mediaacquisition system allows the organizer to view details of the attendeedirectly in the tag by selecting the tag, which expands the tag andreveals the details of the attendee. The media acquisition system allowsthe organizer of the event and any partners who view the attendee taggedmedia 502 to use the attendee tagged media 502 to filter media by theattendees who captured them. For example, if in an event, there are veryimportant persons (VIPs) or professional photographers or videographerswho share media with the media acquisition system, the media acquisitionsystem allows the organizer and the partners to select their media onthe graphical user interface (GUI) 400 for sharing on social media orfor marketing purposes. In some scenarios, the attendee tag result 501assists in the identification of miscreants who have committed mischiefor graver crimes, either through media shared by the miscreantsthemselves or through media shared by a prospective witness to suchincidents who can be reached for assistance in serving justice. Themedia acquisition system allows the organizer to group the attendeetagged media 502, for example, by name of the attendee, email address ofthe attendee, permissions given, or by date of capture by selecting thename field 406, the email field 408, the permission field 409, or thedate field 410 respectively. For example, while without grouping, theGUI 400 displays each item of the media with an attendee tag in an ordercorresponding to the type of media, grouping the attendee tagged media502 by name of the attendee displays the attendee tagged media 502 ingroups with an ascending or a descending alphabetical order of the namesof the attendees corresponding to the attendee tagged media 502. Thestatus bar 414 indicates the number of media items that are displayed inthe main window area 405 with tags comprising attendee details.

FIG. 6 exemplarily illustrates a graphical user interface (GUI) 400 thatthe media acquisition system renders on an electronic device of anorganizer of an event for viewing and editing media tagged as havingduplicate copies of the media. The media acquisition system renders theGUI 400 to display results of the analysis of the media acquired fromattendees of the event agreeing to share media, to the organizer of theevent and tags the acquired media based on the characteristics of themedia as disclosed in the detailed description of FIG. 1 . Asexemplarily illustrated in FIG. 6 , the GUI 400 displays the logo 202 ofthe organizer of the event or a partner as disclosed in the detaileddescription of FIG. 2 . The GUI 400 exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 6also displays the options sidebar 401, the window heading 403, the mainwindow area 405, the name field 406, the triangle indicator 407, theemail field 408, the permission field 409, the date field 410, thesearch field 411, the settings sidebar 412, the settings sidebar scrollbar 413, the status bar 414, and the configure button 415 as disclosedin the detailed description of FIG. 4 . The options sidebar 401comprises a duplicate tag result 601 that is selected by the organizerof the event as indicated, for example, by a rectangular outline aroundthe duplicate tag result 601. The options sidebar 401 displays theduplicate tag result 601 under an expanded menu of the “tagged” categoryfrom among the results of the analysis as disclosed in the detaileddescription of FIG. 4 . The organizer may also choose to view theanalyzed media tagged as “attendee” that indicates the source of mediaor tagged as “low res” that indicate a low resolution of images orvideos in the media by selecting the corresponding tag results under the“tagged” category.

The main window area 405 comprises duplicate tagged media 602corresponding to the selection of the duplicate tag result 601 in theoptions sidebar 401. The graphical user interface (GUI) 400 displaysduplicate tagged media 602 in pairs or groups of the duplicates of mediaitems with bidirectional arrows between the duplicate media items. Thebidirectional arrows serve to convey the sameness of media in case theorganizer chooses a view that does not show a preview of each media itemand thus not providing visual confirmation of the media items beingduplicates of each other. The media acquisition system allows theorganizer to select a different view via the “view preferences” optionin the settings sidebar 412 as disclosed in the detailed description ofFIG. 4 . The status bar 414 displays the number of media items that haveduplicates as exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 6 . Through the duplicatetag, the media acquisition system allows the organizer to handleduplicates that may arise when an attendee accidentally shares the samemedia multiple times or when a common media item obtained from theinternet is shared by multiple attendees. The media acquisition systemalso allows automated merging of duplicate media items by selecting onemedia item among the duplicates with the highest resolution, earliestacquisition time, etc., based on preconfigured organizer preferences asdisclosed in the detailed description of FIG. 1 . The media acquisitionsystem allows the organizer of the event to group the duplicate taggedmedia 602, for example, by name of the attendee, email address of theattendee, permissions given, or by date of capture by selecting the namefield 406, the email field 408, the permission field 409, or the datefield 410 respectively.

FIG. 7 exemplarily illustrates a graphical user interface (GUI) 400 thatthe media acquisition system renders on an electronic device of anorganizer of an event for viewing and editing three-dimensional (3D)renditions of qualifying media. The media acquisition system analyzesmedia acquired from electronic devices of attendees of the eventagreeing to share the media and processes the acquired media based onthe characteristics of the media according to preconfigured userpreferences as disclosed in the detailed description of FIG. 1 . Themedia acquisition system renders the processed media on the GUI 400 forthe organizer to view, edit, or share. As exemplarily illustrated inFIG. 7 , the GUI 400 displays the logo 202 of the organizer of the eventor a partner as disclosed in the detailed description of FIG. 2 . TheGUI 400 exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 7 also displays the optionssidebar 401, the window heading 403, the main window area 405, the namefield 406, the triangle indicator 407, the email field 408, thepermission field 409, the date field 410, the search field 411, thesettings sidebar 412, the settings sidebar scroll bar 413, the statusbar 414, and the configure button 415 as disclosed in the detaileddescription of FIG. 4 . The options sidebar 401 comprises a 3D renderresult 701 that is selected by the organizer of the event as indicated,for example, by a rectangular outline around the 3D render result 701.The 3D render result 701 refers to 3D renditions of objects or personsfrom images in the acquired media. The media acquisition system collatesacquired images of an object or a person that portray the object or theperson from various angles. When a predetermined number of images fromat least three angles are available for an object or a person, the mediaacquisition system renders a 3D image of the object or the person anddisplays the results of the rendition on the GUI 400.

The organizer may edit a three-dimensional (3D) rendition by removingsome images, adding more images, or changing aspects, for example,shadows and color filters, smoothing of edges, etc., of the renditionthat the media acquisition system provides to the organizer on selectingan edit option (not shown) from a context menu (not shown) for therendition. Depending on the electronic device the organizer uses toaccess the media acquisition system, the media acquisition systemreceives input from different input devices, for example, a touchscreen,a computer mouse, a keyboard, a microphone for audio commands, etc., toedit the rendition of the 3D images. The options sidebar 401 displaysthe 3D render result 701 under an expanded menu of the “processed”category from among the results of the analysis as disclosed in thedetailed description of FIG. 4 . The organizer may also choose to viewthe analyzed media tagged as “AR” that indicates media processed toyield augmented reality objects that may be viewed on most electronicdevices with display screens or tagged as “montage” that indicatesmontages the media acquisition system generates from the acquired mediaby selecting the corresponding results under the “processed” category.

The main window area 405 comprises three-dimensional (3D) renditionmedia 702 corresponding to the selection of the 3D render result 701 inthe options sidebar 401. The 3D rendition media 702 comprises the imagesused for the rendition and the 3D rendition. The media acquisitionsystem allows the organizer to group the images used for the 3Drendition in the 3D rendition media 702, for example, by name of theattendee, email address of the attendee, permissions given, or by dateof capture by selecting the name field 406, the email field 408, thepermission field 409, or the date field 410 respectively. As exemplarilyillustrated in FIG. 7 , the status bar 414 indicates that only one mediaitem is displayed in the main window area 405 referring only to the 3Drenditions in the 3D rendition media 702 as it is only the renditionsthat count for the 3D render result 701. The graphical user interface(GUI) 400 also displays the number of images used for each rendition anddetails of the rendition via the media details section in the settingssidebar 412 as disclosed in the detailed description of FIG. 4 . Themain window area 405 also comprises additional graphical elements suchas a callout arrow that connects the images used in the 3D rendition tothe rendition for convenient consumption of information by theorganizer. The media acquisition system allows the organizer to changethe layout of the GUI 400 or alter the graphical elements shown via theconfigure button 415 as disclosed in the detailed description of FIG. 4.

FIG. 8 exemplarily illustrates a graphical user interface (GUI) 800 thatthe media acquisition system renders on an electronic device of anorganizer of an event for sharing media from the event. As disclosed inthe detailed description of FIG. 1 , the media acquisition systemrenders a GUI 800 on the electronic device of the organizer of the eventthrough which the organizer accesses the media acquisition system.Through this GUI 800, the organizer organizes and shares media analyzedby the media acquisition system based on permissions received fromattendees sharing the media during acquisition by the media acquisitionsystem. The organizer reviews the analyzed media and approves media forsharing with selected attendees of the event, social media websites,and/or other third parties. In an embodiment as exemplarily illustratedin FIG. 8 , the GUI 800 displays details arranged in a tabular formatwith column headings. The GUI 800 displays a window heading 403, asdisclosed in the detailed description of FIG. 4 , for example,“sharing”, referring to the presentation of the analyzed media on theGUI 800 to allow the organizer to share the analyzed media. Asexemplarily illustrated in FIG. 8 , the GUI 800 indicates the first rowselected by the organizer, for example, with double lines 801 borderingthe first row. In another example, the GUI 800 indicates the selectionof a row by shading the corresponding row with a color different fromthat of the other rows in the table. As exemplarily illustrated in FIG.8 , the first column 802 lists serial numbers for attendees from whomthe media acquisition system acquired and analyzed media. An upwardtriangle 803 that is filled with color GUI 800 denotes sorting of thetable in the order of increasing serial numbers. Selecting, for example,by clicking on or touching a touchscreen interface, any column headingon the GUI 800 sorts the table according to that column heading. Forexample, selecting the “full name” column heading or the “email” columnheading on the GUI 800 sorts the table in an alphabetical order of thefull names of the attendees or their email addresses respectively.Selecting the same column heading a second time in consecutivesuccession sorts the table in the reverse order of that column heading.For example, selecting the “full name” column heading a second timeconsecutively sorts the table according to the reverse alphabeticalorder of the full names of the attendees.

As exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 8 , the second column 804 lists thenames of the attendees corresponding to the assigned serial numbers.Selecting a “delete” option 805 below the full name of an attendeedeletes the row from the table and associated media files with a pop-upconfirmation dialog to confirm the action. The media acquisition systemmoves the deleted contents to a software-implemented recycle bin toallow for restoration of the contents by the organizer of the event, ifnecessary, at a later time. Selecting a “view files” option 806 belowthe full name of an attendee directs the organizer to another part (notshown) of the graphical user interface (GUI) 800 that displays mediafiles acquired from that attendee's electronic device. The GUI 800displays the “delete” option 805 and the “view files” option 806 for theselected rows of the table. For example, as the first row has beenselected by the organizer as indicated by the double lines 801 in FIG. 8, the GUI 800 displays the “delete” option 805 and the “view files”option 806 only for the first row. Selecting another row displays thecorresponding options on that row. As exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 8, the third column 807 displays email addresses of the correspondingattendees provided that the email addresses have been shared with themedia acquisition system by those attendees during the acquisition ofthe media. If an attendee has not shared their email address, thecorresponding entry in the column 807 remains empty. The email addressesdisplayed are configured as links which when selected by the organizer,direct the organizer to an email program on the electronic deviceaccessing the media acquisition system for composing an email to thecorresponding attendee. As exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 8 , thefourth column 808 displays a status associated with media files acquiredfrom an attendee and analyzed by the media acquisition system. Thestatus reads as “pending review” if the organizer has yet to review allthe media files of the corresponding attendee for approving the mediafiles for sharing or not. If the organizer has reviewed all the mediafiles, the status reads as either “approved” or “disapproved” accordingto the review. Selecting a “publish” option 809 directs the mediaacquisition system to automatically share approved media files of thecorresponding attendee to any linked social media websites and otherlinked locations such as a cloud storage location. Since the first rowhas been selected by the organizer as indicated by the double lines 801,the GUI 800 displays the “publish” option 809 only in the first row.Selecting another row displays the corresponding option on that row.

As exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 8 , the fifth column 810 displays,for example, an “on” or “off” status for a grant of permission by thecorresponding attendee to share media acquired from that attendee duringthe acquisition of the media from that attendee by the media acquisitionsystem. An “on” status indicates that permission has been granted by theattendee allowing the organizer of the event to share the associatedmedia. An “off” status indicates to the organizer that the mediaacquisition system disallows sharing of the associated mediaproactively. In an embodiment, when the organizer convinces an attendeeto allow sharing of the media at a later point in time, the mediaacquisition system allows the attendee to login to the media acquisitionsystem provided that the attendee had shared information such as asocial media handle at the time of sharing the media with the mediaacquisition system and later proves to be the owner of the social mediahandle by logging in to the media acquisition system via the socialmedia handle. The media acquisition system connects to social mediaplatforms for purposes of allowing access to the media acquisitionsystem via a login through the social media platforms by attendees whohave connected a profile on the social media platform with the mediaacquisition system while sharing media of the event. The mediaacquisition system allows an attendee who later changes their mind ongranting permission to share media to re-upload such media by accessingthe online portal a second time and choosing to allow sharing of themedia the second time around. The media acquisition system requires theattendees to still possess the media on their electronic devices forgranting permission to share the media the second time around.

In all cases, the media acquisition system ensures security of personalinformation and media and is resistant to attempts at gaming the mediaacquisition system. The media acquisition system enforces security byverifying credentials of every person accessing the media acquisitionsystem through secondary sources such as social media platforms or byprior authentication with that instance of the media acquisition systemas is the case with a login of the organizer of the event. The mediaacquisition system requests each user who accesses the media acquisitionsystem to agree to terms of use comprising sharing of media andcollection of information with corresponding permissions from each user.In an embodiment, the media acquisition system captures details such asthe internet protocol (IP) address and additional information about anelectronic device used to interact with the media acquisition system.For example, if there is an incident where an attendee of an eventraises an objection regarding shared media that they had not approvedfor sharing, the details captured by the media acquisition system revealthe electronic device from which the concerned media was shared inaddition to the time and date of the acquisition and related permissionsprovided through the electronic device.

As exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 8 , the sixth column 811 displays thedate and the time of acquisition of the media from a correspondingattendee. The graphical user interface (GUI) 800 comprises a search box411, as disclosed in the detailed description of FIG. 4 , that allowsthe organizer of the event to search for media acquired and analyzed bythe media acquisition system through attributes of the media such asfilenames and metadata, for example, file size, date and time ofacquisition, type of media, etc. Moreover, the GUI 800 comprises ascroll bar 413, as disclosed in the detailed description of FIG. 4 , toscroll through the table thereby allowing display of the GUI 800 onscreens of various aspect ratios and sizes. The media acquisition systemidentifies the electronic device accessing the media acquisition systemto determine the size and resolution of a display screen of theelectronic device and to determine whether the electronic device is, forexample, a mobile device, a laptop, a desktop, any computer connected toa standalone display screen, or a projector to intelligently determinedisplay conditions for the most suitable rendition of the GUI 800.Furthermore, the GUI 800 comprises a status bar 414, as disclosed in thedetailed description of FIG. 4 , that displays information such as thenumber of entries in the table, the number of rows of the table selectedif any, file attributes such as file size, image resolution, etc., of aselected file, etc.

FIG. 9 exemplarily illustrates an architectural block diagram of anexemplary implementation of a system 900 for accessing media fromattendees of an event. The system 900 disclosed herein comprises themedia acquisition system 903. The media acquisition system 903 isimplemented on an electronic device 901, for example, a personalcomputer, a tablet computing device, a mobile computer, a portablecomputing device, a laptop, a touch device, a workstation, a server, aportable electronic device, a network enabled computing device, aninteractive network enabled communication device, any other suitablecomputing equipment, combinations of multiple pieces of computingequipment, etc. In an embodiment, the computing equipment is used toimplement applications such as media playback applications, a webbrowser, an electronic mail (email) application, a calendar application,etc., with one or more servers associated with one or more onlineservices.

The media acquisition system 903 communicates with electronic devices916 a and 916 b of the attendees of the event via a network 915, forexample, a short-range network or a long-range network. The network 915is, for example, the Internet, an intranet, a wired network, a wirelessnetwork, a communication network that implements Bluetooth® of BluetoothSig, Inc., a network that implements Wi-Fi® of Wi-Fi AllianceCorporation, an ultra-wideband communication network (UWB), a wirelessuniversal serial bus (USB) communication network, a communicationnetwork that implements ZigBee® of ZigBee Alliance Corporation, ageneral packet radio service (GPRS) network, a mobile telecommunicationnetwork such as a global system for mobile (GSM) communications network,a code division multiple access (CDMA) network, a third generation (3G)mobile communication network, a fourth generation (4G) mobilecommunication network, a fifth generation (5G) mobile communicationnetwork, a long-term evolution (LTE) mobile communication network, apublic telephone network, etc., a local area network, a wide areanetwork, an internet connection network, an infrared communicationnetwork, etc., or a network formed from any combination of thesenetworks. In various embodiments, the network 915 is a wired network, ora wireless network, or a combination of networks using differentprotocols. In an embodiment, the media acquisition system 903 isaccessible to users, for example, organizers, partners, and attendees ofthe event through a broad spectrum of technologies and devices such ascellular phones, tablet computing devices, etc., with access to thenetwork 915.

As exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 9 , the system 900 comprises anon-transitory, computer-readable storage medium, for example, a memoryunit 902 for storing programs and data, and at least one processor 904communicatively coupled to the non-transitory, computer-readable storagemedium. As used herein, “non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium” refers to all computer-readable media that contain and storecomputer programs and data, except for a transitory, propagating signal.Examples of the computer-readable media comprise hard drives, solidstate drives, optical discs or magnetic disks, memory chips, a read-onlymemory (ROM), a register memory, a processor cache, a random-accessmemory (RAM), etc. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage mediumstores computer program instructions defined by modules, for example,903 a, 903 b, 903 c, 903 d, 903 e, 903 f, etc., of the media acquisitionsystem 903. The media acquisition system 903 is installed and stored inthe memory unit 902 of the electronic device 901. The memory unit 902 isused for storing program instructions, applications, and data. Thememory unit 902 is, for example, a random access memory (RAM) or anothertype of dynamic storage device that stores information and instructionsfor execution by the processor 904. The memory unit 902 also storestemporary variables and other intermediate information used duringexecution of the instructions by the processor 904. The electronicdevice 901 further comprises a read only memory (ROM) or another type ofstatic storage device that stores static information and instructionsfor the processor 904.

The processor 904 executes the computer program instructions defined bythe modules, for example, 903 a, 903 b, 903 c, 903 d, 903 e, 903 f,etc., of the media acquisition system 903. The processor 904 refers toany of one or more microprocessors, central processing unit (CPU)devices, finite state machines, computers, microcontrollers, digitalsignal processors, logic, a logic device, a user circuit, an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array(FPGA), a chip, etc., or any combination thereof, capable of executingcomputer programs or a series of commands, instructions, or statetransitions. In an embodiment, the processor 904 is implemented as aprocessor set comprising, for example, a programmed microprocessor and amath or graphics co-processor. The processor 904 is selected, forexample, from the Intel® processors such as the Itanium® microprocessoror the Pentium® processors, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD®) processorssuch as the Athlon® processor, UltraSPARC® processors, microSPARC®processors, HP® processors, International Business Machines (IBM®)processors such as the PowerPC® microprocessor, the MIPS® reducedinstruction set computer (RISC) processor of MIPS Technologies, Inc.,RISC based computer processors of ARM Holdings, Motorola® processors,Qualcomm® processors, etc. The media acquisition system 903 disclosedherein is not limited to employing a processor 904. In an embodiment,the media acquisition system 903 employs a controller or amicrocontroller.

As exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 9 , the system 900 further comprisesa display screen 905, on which, a graphical user interface (GUI) 905 ais displayed for interaction with a user such as an organizer of theevent via the electronic device 901, a radio frequency (RF) unit 906, anetwork interface 907, an input/output (I/O) controller 908, inputdevices 909, a fixed media drive 910 such as a hard drive, a removablemedia drive 911 for receiving removable media, output devices 912, adata bus 913, and an antenna 914. The data bus 913 permitscommunications between the modules, for example, 902, 904, 905, 906,907, 908, 909, 910, 911, and 912 of the media acquisition system 903.The RF unit 906 allows transmission and/or reception of radio signalsbetween the electronic devices 901, 916 a, and 916 b via the antenna914. The display screen 905 comprises, for example, a video display, aliquid crystal display, a plasma display, an organic light emittingdiode (OLED) based display, etc. The GUI 905 a is, for example, anonline web interface, a web based downloadable application interface, amobile based downloadable application interface, etc.

The network interface 907 enables connection of the media acquisitionsystem 903 in the electronic device 901 to the network 915. In anembodiment, the network interface 907 is provided as an interface cardalso referred to as a line card. The network interface 907 comprises,for example, of an infrared (IR) interface, an interface implementingWi-Fi® of Wi-Fi Alliance Corporation, a universal serial bus (USB)interface, a FireWire® interface of Apple Inc., an Ethernet interface, aframe relay interface, a cable interface, a digital subscriber line(DSL) interface, a token ring interface, a peripheral controllerinterconnect (PCI) interface, a local area network (LAN) interface, awide area network (WAN) interface, interfaces using serial protocols,interfaces using parallel protocols, Ethernet communication interfaces,asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) interfaces, a high speed serialinterface (HSSI), a fiber distributed data interface (FDDI), interfacesbased on a transmission control protocol (TCP)/internet protocol (IP),interfaces based on wireless communications technology such as satellitetechnology, RF technology, near field communication (NFC), etc. The I/Ocontroller 908 controls input actions and output actions performed bythe media acquisition system 903.

The input devices 909 are used for inputting data into the mediaacquisition system 903. An organizer of an event uses the input devices909 to input data into the media acquisition system 903. The organizerof the event inputs registration and event details using the inputdevices 909 and on generation of the online portal, uses the inputdevices 909 to operate the editing tools on the generated online portalto portray the event information based on his or her preferences asdisclosed in the detailed description of FIG. 1 . The input devices 909are, for example, a keyboard such as an alphanumeric keyboard, amicrophone, a joystick, a pointing device such as a computer mouse, atouch pad, a light pen, a physical button, a touch sensitive displaydevice, a track ball, a pointing stick, any device capable of sensing atactile input, etc.

In an embodiment as exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 9 , the mediaacquisition system 903 comprises a data reception module 903 a, a portalgeneration module 903 b, a rendering module 903 c, a media acquisitionmodule 903 d, an analysis module 903 e, a sharing module 903 f, and oneor more databases 903 g stored in the memory unit 902. The database(s)903 g of the media acquisition system 903 is any storage area or mediumused for storing data and files. In an embodiment, the database(s) 903 gis, for example, any of a structured query language (SQL) data store ora not only SQL (NoSQL) data store such as the Microsoft® SQL Server®,the Oracle® servers, the MySQL® database of MySQL AB Limited Company,the mongoDB® of MongoDB, Inc., the Neo4j graph database of NeoTechnology Corporation, the Cassandra database of the Apache SoftwareFoundation, the HBase® database of the Apache Software Foundation, etc.In another embodiment, the database(s) 903 g is a location on a filesystem. In another embodiment, the database(s) 903 g is remotelyaccessible by the media acquisition system 903 via the network 915. Inanother embodiment, the database(s) 903 g is configured as a cloud-baseddatabase implemented in a cloud computing environment, where computingresources are delivered as a service over the network 915. As usedherein, “cloud computing environment” refers to a processing environmentcomprising configurable, computing, physical and logical resources, forexample, networks, servers, storage media, virtual machines,applications, services, etc., and data distributed over the network 915.The cloud computing environment provides on-demand network access to ashared pool of the configurable, computing, physical and logicalresources. In an embodiment, the media acquisition system 903 is a cloudcomputing-based platform implemented as a service for accessing mediafrom attendees of an event. In various embodiments, the mediaacquisition system 903 is developed, for example, using the Google Appengine cloud infrastructure of Google Inc., Amazon Web Services® ofAmazon Technologies, Inc., the Amazon elastic compute cloud EC2® webservice of Amazon Technologies, Inc., the Google® Cloud platform ofGoogle Inc., the Microsoft® Cloud platform of Microsoft Corporation,etc.

The data reception module 903 a receives registration and event detailsfrom the organizer of the event. The portal generation module 903 bgenerates an online portal specific to the event and the organizer basedon the received registration and event details with media requestelements. The online portal is accessible over the network 915. Theportal generation module 903 b further generates a shareable link to thegenerated online portal in multiple formats for rendering the generatedshareable link to the attendees of the event. The rendering module 903 cdisplays the generated online portal on electronic devices 916 a and 916b of the attendees of the event that access the generated online portalthrough the generated shareable link in one of the formats. The mediaacquisition module 903 d acquires media from the electronic devices 916a and 916 b of the attendees of the event agreeing to share the mediawith the organizer via the media request elements on the displayedonline portal through a live capture of the media or an access of storedmedia with an optional media enhancement. The media acquisition module903 d also allows multiple attempts by the attendees at the live captureand the choice of stored media before acquiring the media from theelectronic devices 916 a and 916 b. The analysis module 903 e analyzesthe acquired media based on characteristics of the acquired media inaccordance with preconfigured organizer preferences. The preconfiguredorganizer preferences are part of the event details received by the datareception module 903 a. The characteristics of the acquired media andthe preconfigured organizer preferences are disclosed in the detaileddescription of FIG. 1 . The analysis of the acquired media by theanalysis module 903 e comprises organizing, enhancing, selectivelyhighlighting, tagging, and applying image recognition to the acquiredmedia; creating montages, three-dimensional models, and augmentedreality objects from the acquired media; and exhibiting thecharacteristics of the acquired media. The media acquisition system 903implements artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithmsincluding face recognition algorithms to obtain characteristics of theacquired media and provide services in accordance with the preconfiguredorganizer preferences. The sharing module 903 f shares a selection ofthe analyzed media on preselected social media platforms on receiving acorresponding request from the organizer of the event.

Computer applications and programs are used for operating the mediaacquisition system 903. The programs are loaded onto the fixed mediadrive 910 and into the memory unit 902 of the electronic device 901 viathe removable media drive 911. In an embodiment, the computerapplications and programs are loaded directly on the electronic device901 via the network 915. The output devices 912 output the results ofoperations performed by the media acquisition system 903. For example,the media acquisition system 903 renders the display of the generatedonline portal on the electronic devices 916 a and 916 b of the attendeesof the event that access the online portal and renders the GUI 905 a forthe organizer of the event to interact with the media acquisition system903, using the output devices 912.

The processor 904 executes an operating system, for example, the Linux®operating system, the Unix® operating system, any version of theMicrosoft® Windows® operating system, the Mac OS of Apple Inc., the IBM®OS/2, VxWorks® of Wind River Systems, Inc., QNX Neutrino® developed byQNX Software Systems Ltd., the Palm OS®, the Solaris operating systemdeveloped by Sun Microsystems, Inc., the Android® operating system ofGoogle Inc., the Windows Phone® operating system of MicrosoftCorporation, the BlackBerry® operating system of BlackBerry Limited, theiOS operating system of Apple Inc., the Symbian™ operating system ofSymbian Foundation Limited, etc. The media acquisition system 903employs the operating system for performing multiple tasks. Theoperating system is responsible for management and coordination ofactivities and sharing of resources of the media acquisition system 903.The operating system further manages security of the media acquisitionsystem 903, peripheral devices connected to the media acquisition system903, and network connections. The operating system employed on the mediaacquisition system 903 recognizes, for example, inputs provided by auser of the media acquisition system 903 such as the organizer of theevent, using one of the input devices 909, the output devices 912,files, and directories stored locally on the fixed media drive 910. Theoperating system on the media acquisition system 903 executes differentprograms using the processor 904. The processor 904 and the operatingsystem together define a computer platform for which applicationprograms in high level programming languages are written. The operatingsystem of the electronic device 901 determines the programming languagesused in the media acquisition system 903. For example, the Java®programming language is used for developing the media acquisition system903 on the electronic device 901 with an Android® operating system,while Objective-C° of Apple Inc., is used for developing the mediaacquisition system 903 on the electronic device 901 with the iOSoperating system, and the UNITY® libraries and platforms of Unity IPRApS, LLC., are used developing the media acquisition system 903 for boththe Android® operating system and the iOS operating system.

The processor 904 retrieves instructions defined by the data receptionmodule 903 a, the portal generation module 903 b, the rendering module903 c, the media acquisition module 903 d, the analysis module 903 e,and the sharing module 903 f stored in the memory unit 902, forperforming respective functions disclosed above. The processor 904retrieves the instructions for executing the modules, for example, 903a, 903 b, 903 c, 903 d, 903 e, 903 f, etc., of the media acquisitionsystem 903 from the memory unit 902. A program counter determines thelocation of the instructions in the memory unit 902. The program counterstores a number that identifies the current position in a program ofeach of the modules, for example, 903 a, 903 b, 903 c, 903 d, 903 e, 903f, etc., of the media acquisition system 903. The instructions fetchedby the processor 904 from the memory unit 902 after being processed aredecoded. The instructions are stored in an instruction register in theprocessor 904. After processing and decoding, the processor 904 executesthe instructions, thereby performing processes defined by thoseinstructions.

At the time of execution, the instructions stored in the instructionregister are examined to determine the operations to be performed. Theprocessor 904 then performs the specified operations. The operationscomprise arithmetic operations and logic operations. The operatingsystem performs multiple routines for performing a number of tasksrequired to assign the input devices 909, the output devices 912, andthe memory unit 902 for execution of the modules, for example, 903 a,903 b, 903 c, 903 d, 903 e, 903 f, etc., of the media acquisition system903. The tasks performed by the operating system comprise, for example,assigning memory to the modules, for example, 903 a, 903 b, 903 c, 903d, 903 e, 903 f, etc., of the media acquisition system 903, and to dataused by the media acquisition system 903, moving data between the memoryunit 902 and disk units, and handling input/output operations. Theoperating system performs the tasks on request by the operations, andafter performing the tasks, the operating system transfers the executioncontrol back to the processor 904. The processor 904 continues theexecution to obtain outputs. The outputs of the execution of themodules, for example, 903 a, 903 b, 903 c, 903 d, 903 e, 903 f, etc., ofthe media acquisition system 903 are displayed to the organizer of theevent accessing the media acquisition system 903 on the output device912.

The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium disclosed hereinstores computer program codes comprising instructions executable by atleast one processor 904 for accessing media from attendees of an event.The computer program codes comprise a first computer program code forreceiving registration and event details from an organizer of the event;a second computer program code for generating an online portal specificto the event and the organizer based on the received registration andevent details with media request elements, where the online portal isaccessible over the network 915; a third computer program code forgenerating a shareable link to the generated online portal in multipleformats for rendering the generated shareable link to the attendees ofthe event; a fourth computer program code for displaying the generatedonline portal on the electronic devices 916 a and 916 b of the attendeesof the event that access the generated online portal through thegenerated shareable link in one of the formats; a fifth computer programcode for acquiring media from the electronic devices 916 a and 916 b ofthe attendees of the event agreeing to share the media with theorganizer via the media request elements on the displayed online portalthrough a live capture of the media or an access of stored media with anoptional media enhancement; a sixth computer program code for analyzingthe acquired media based on characteristics of the acquired media inaccordance with preconfigured organizer preferences, where thepreconfigured organizer preferences are part of the received eventdetails; and a seventh computer program code for sharing a selection ofthe analyzed media on preselected social media platforms on receiving acorresponding request from the organizer of the event.

The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium disclosed hereinfurther stores additional computer program codes for performingadditional steps that may be required and contemplated for accessingmedia from attendees of an event. In an embodiment, a single piece ofcomputer program code comprising computer executable instructionsperforms one or more steps of the computer-implemented method disclosedherein for accessing media from attendees of an event. The computerprogram codes comprising computer executable instructions are embodiedon the non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium. The processor904 of the system 900 retrieves these computer executable instructionsand executes them. When the computer executable instructions areexecuted by the processor 904, the computer executable instructionscause the processor 904 to perform the steps of the computer-implementedmethod for accessing media from attendees of an event.

In the computer-implemented method disclosed herein, the design and flowof interactions between the media acquisition system 903 with the restof the system 900 and with the electronic devices 916 a and 916 b of theattendees of the event via the network 915 is deliberate, designed, anddirected. The interactions designed by the media acquisition system 903allow the media acquisition system 903 to obtain user input from anorganizer of an event and media from the attendees of the event. Fromthis information, through the use of another separate and autonomouscomputer program, the media acquisition system 903 transforms thecollected data to generate an online portal. Through the use of yetanother separate and autonomous computer program, the media acquisitionsystem 903 aggregates media received from the attendees of the event forproviding access to the acquired media to an organizer of the event. Themedia acquisition system 903 executes a separate and autonomous computerprogram defined by artificial intelligence and machine learningalgorithms to analyze and transform the acquired media according topreconfigured organizer preferences and subsequently shares a selectionof the analyzed media on preselected social media platforms. To generatean online portal with edits from the organizer of the event, generate ashareable link in multiple formats with design elements for renderingthe shareable link to the attendees of the event, acquire media from theelectronic devices 916 a and 916 b of the attendees, analyze theacquired media to transform the same and create montages, andautomatically share the analyzed media to a repository of the organizerof the event requires more than five (5) separate computer programs, theexecution of which cannot be easily or manually executed by a personworking with a generic computer. A generic computer using a genericprogram cannot generate a customized online portal and shareable links,access media from the electronic devices 916 a and 916 b of theattendees of the event, analyze and transform the media, and provide forquick sharing of selected media on multiple social media platforms inaccordance with the method steps disclosed above.

It is readily apparent in different embodiments that the variousmethods, algorithms, and computer-readable programs disclosed herein areimplemented on non-transitory, computer-readable storage mediaappropriately programmed for computing devices. The non-transitory,computer-readable storage media participate in providing data, forexample, instructions that are read by a computer, a processor, or asimilar device. In different embodiments, the “non-transitory,computer-readable storage media” also refers to a single medium ormultiple media, for example, a centralized database, a distributeddatabase, and/or associated caches and servers that store one or moresets of instructions that are read by a computer, a processor, or asimilar device. The “non-transitory, computer-readable storage media”also refer to any medium capable of storing or encoding a set ofinstructions for execution by a computer, a processor, or a similardevice and that causes a computer, a processor, or a similar device toperform any one or more of the methods disclosed herein.

In an embodiment, the computer programs that implement the methods andalgorithms disclosed herein are stored and transmitted using a varietyof media, for example, the computer-readable media in various manners.In an embodiment, hard-wired circuitry or custom hardware is used inplace of, or in combination with, software instructions for implementingthe processes of various embodiments. Therefore, the embodiments are notlimited to any specific combination of hardware and software. Thecomputer program codes comprising computer executable instructions canbe implemented in any programming language. Examples of programminglanguages that can be used comprise C, C++, C#, Java®, JavaScript®,Fortran, Ruby, Perl®, Python®, Visual Basic®, hypertext preprocessor(PHP), Microsoft® .NET, Objective-C®, etc. Other object-oriented,functional, scripting, and/or logical programming languages can also beused. In an embodiment, the computer program codes or software programsare stored on or in one or more mediums as object code. In anotherembodiment, various aspects of the method and the system disclosedherein are implemented in a non-programmed environment comprisingdocuments created, for example, in a hypertext markup language (HTML),an extensible markup language (XML), or other format that render aspectsof a graphical user interface (GUI) or perform other functions, whenviewed in a visual area or a window of a browser program. In anotherembodiment, various aspects of the method and the system disclosedherein are implemented as programmed elements, or non-programmedelements, or any suitable combination thereof.

Where databases are described such as the database 903 g, it will beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art that (i) alternativedatabase structures to those described may be employed, and (ii) othermemory structures besides databases may be employed. Any illustrationsor descriptions of any sample databases disclosed herein areillustrative arrangements for stored representations of information. Inan embodiment, any number of other arrangements are employed besidesthose suggested by tables illustrated in the drawings or elsewhere.Similarly, any illustrated entries of the databases represent exemplaryinformation only; one of ordinary skill in the art will understand thatthe number and content of the entries can be different from thosedisclosed herein. In another embodiment, despite any depiction of thedatabases as tables, other formats comprising relational databases,object-based models, and/or distributed databases are used to store andmanipulate the data types disclosed herein. Object methods or behaviorsof a database can be used to implement various processes such as thosedisclosed herein. In another embodiment, the databases are, in a knownmanner, stored locally or remotely from a device that accesses data insuch a database. In embodiments where there are multiple databases inthe system, the databases are integrated to communicate with each otherfor enabling simultaneous updates of data linked across the databases,when there are any updates to the data in one of the databases.

The method and the system disclosed herein can be configured to work ina network environment comprising one or more computers that are incommunication with one or more devices via a network. In an embodiment,the computers communicate with the devices directly or indirectly, via awired medium or a wireless medium such as the Internet, a local areanetwork (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) or the Ethernet, a token ring,or via any appropriate communications mediums or combination ofcommunications mediums. Each of the devices comprises processors,examples of which are disclosed above, that are adapted to communicatewith the computers. In an embodiment, each of the computers is equippedwith a network communication device, for example, a network interfacecard, a modem, or other network connection device suitable forconnecting to a network. Each of the computers and the devices executesan operating system, examples of which are disclosed above. While theoperating system may differ depending on the type of computer, theoperating system provides the appropriate communications protocols toestablish communication links with the network. Any number and type ofmachines may be in communication with the computers.

The method and the system disclosed herein are not limited to aparticular computer system platform, processor, operating system, ornetwork. In an embodiment, one or more aspects of the method and thesystem disclosed herein are distributed among one or more computersystems, for example, servers configured to provide one or more servicesto one or more client computers, or to perform a complete task in adistributed system. For example, one or more aspects of the method andthe system disclosed herein are performed on a client-server system thatcomprises components distributed among one or more server systems thatperform multiple functions according to various embodiments. Thesecomponents comprise, for example, executable, intermediate, orinterpreted code, which communicate over a network using a communicationprotocol. The method and the system disclosed herein are not limited tobe executable on any particular system or group of systems, and are notlimited to any particular distributed architecture, network, orcommunication protocol.

The foregoing examples and illustrative implementations of variousembodiments have been provided merely for explanation and are in no wayto be construed as limiting of the method and the system disclosedherein. While the method and the system have been described withreference to various embodiments, it is understood that the words, whichhave been used herein, are words of description and illustration, ratherthan words of limitation. Further, although the method and the systemhave been described herein with reference to particular means,materials, techniques, and embodiments, the method and the system arenot intended to be limited to the particulars disclosed herein; rather,the method and the system extend to all functionally equivalentstructures, methods and uses, such as are within the scope of theappended claims. While multiple embodiments are disclosed, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art, having the benefit of theteachings of this specification, that the method and the systemdisclosed herein are capable of modifications and other embodiments maybe effected and changes may be made thereto, without departing from thescope and spirit of the method and the system disclosed herein.

1-18. (canceled)
 19. A computer-implemented method for accessing mediafrom attendees of an event, the method employing a media acquisitionsystem executable by at least one processor configured to executecomputer program instructions for performing the method, the methodcomprising: receiving registration and event details from an organizerof the event by the media acquisition system; generating a shareablelink to an online portal by the media acquisition system, wherein theonline portal is accessible on one or more electronic devices of theattendees of the event through the generated shareable link; acquiringmedia from the electronic devices of the attendees of the event agreeingto share the media with the organizer, by the media acquisition system;analyzing the acquired media based on characteristics of the acquiredmedia in accordance with preconfigured organizer preferences, whereinthe preconfigured organizer preferences are part of the received eventdetails; and sharing a selection of the analyzed media on preselectedsocial media platforms by the media acquisition system on receiving acorresponding request from the organizer of the event.
 20. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein the analysis of theacquired media comprises organizing, enhancing, selectivelyhighlighting, tagging, and applying image recognition to the acquiredmedia; creating montages, three-dimensional models, and augmentedreality objects from the acquired media; and exhibiting thecharacteristics of the acquired media.
 21. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 19, wherein receiving the registration and event detailsfrom the organizer of the event further comprises generating the onlineportal specific to the event and the organizer based on the receivedregistration and event details with media request elements by the mediaacquisition system, wherein the online portal is accessible over anetwork.
 22. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein theshareable link to the online portal is generated in a plurality offormats by the media acquisition system for rendering the generatedshareable link to the attendees of the event.
 23. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 19 further comprises displaying thegenerated online portal on electronic devices of the attendees of theevent that access the generated online portal through the generatedshareable link in one of a plurality of formats, by the mediaacquisition system.
 24. The computer-implemented method of claim 24,wherein the media is acquired from the electronic devices of theagreeing attendees via media request elements on the displayed onlineportal through one of a live capture of the media and an access ofstored media with an optional media enhancement, by the mediaacquisition system.
 25. The computer-implemented method of claim 19,further comprises one or more of: acquiring post-event feedback from theattendees; and acquiring pre-event feedback from the attendees.
 26. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein generating theshareable link to the online portal by the media acquisition systemcomprises generating a machine-readable optical code comprising theshareable link, wherein the machine-readable optical code comprises oneof a quick response code and a barcode.
 27. A system for accessing mediafrom attendees of an event, the system comprising: a non-transitory,computer-readable storage medium configured to store computer programinstructions and data defined by a media acquisition system; at leastone processor communicatively coupled to the non-transitory,computer-readable storage medium, the at least one processor configuredto execute the defined computer program instructions; and the mediaacquisition system comprising: a data reception module configured toreceive registration and event details from an organizer of the event; aportal generation module configured to generate a shareable link to anonline portal, wherein the online portal is configured to be accessibleon one or more electronic devices of the attendees of the event throughthe generated shareable link; a media acquisition module configured toacquire media from the electronic devices of the attendees of the eventagreeing to share the media with the organizer; an analysis moduleconfigured to analyze the acquired media based on characteristics of theacquired media in accordance with preconfigured organizer preferences,wherein the preconfigured organizer preferences are part of the eventdetails received by the data reception module; and a sharing moduleconfigured to share a selection of the analyzed media on preselectedsocial media platforms on receiving a corresponding request from theorganizer of the event.
 28. The system of claim 27, wherein the portalgeneration module is further configured to generate the online portalspecific to the event and the organizer based on the receivedregistration and event details with media request elements, wherein theonline portal is accessible over a network.
 29. The system of claim 27,wherein the portal generation module is configured to generate theshareable link to the online portal in a plurality of formats forrendering the generated shareable link to the attendees of the event.30. The system of claim 27 further comprises a rendering moduleconfigured to display the generated online portal on electronic devicesof the attendees of the event that access the generated online portalthrough the generated shareable link in one of a plurality of formats.31. The system of claim 30, wherein the media acquisition module isconfigured to acquire the media from the electronic devices of theagreeing attendees via media request elements on the displayed onlineportal through one of a live capture of the media and an access ofstored media with an optional media enhancement.
 32. The system of claim27, wherein the analysis of the acquired media by the analysis modulecomprises organizing, enhancing, selectively highlighting, tagging, andapplying image recognition to the acquired media; creating montages,three-dimensional models, and augmented reality objects from theacquired media; and exhibiting the characteristics of the acquiredmedia.
 33. The system of claim 27, wherein the media acquisition moduleis further configured to acquire one or more of: post-event feedbackfrom the attendees; and pre-event feedback from the attendees.
 34. Thesystem of claim 27, wherein the portal generation module is configuredto generate a machine-readable optical code comprising the shareablelink, wherein the machine-readable optical code comprises one of a quickresponse code and a barcode.
 35. A non-transitory, computer-readablestorage medium having embodied thereon, computer program codescomprising instructions executable by at least one processor foraccessing media from attendees of an event, the computer program codescomprising: a first computer program code for receiving registration andevent details from an organizer of the event; a second computer programcode for generating a shareable link to an online portal, wherein theonline portal is accessible on one or more electronic devices of theattendees of the event through the generated shareable link; a thirdcomputer program code for acquiring media from the electronic devices ofthe attendees of the event agreeing to share the media with theorganizer; a fourth computer program code for analyzing the acquiredmedia based on characteristics of the acquired media in accordance withpreconfigured organizer preferences, wherein the preconfigured organizerpreferences are part of the received event details; and a fifth computerprogram code for sharing a selection of the analyzed media onpreselected social media platforms on receiving a corresponding requestfrom the organizer of the event.
 36. The non-transitory,computer-readable storage medium of claim 35, wherein the analysis ofthe acquired media comprises organizing, enhancing, selectivelyhighlighting, tagging, and applying image recognition to the acquiredmedia; creating montages, three-dimensional models, and augmentedreality objects from the acquired media; and exhibiting thecharacteristics of the acquired media.
 37. The non-transitory,computer-readable storage medium of claim 35 further comprises a sixthcomputer program code for generating the online portal specific to theevent and the organizer based on the received registration and eventdetails with media request elements, wherein the online portal isaccessible over a network.
 38. The non-transitory, computer-readablestorage medium of claim 35, wherein the shareable link to the onlineportal is generated in a plurality of formats by the second computerprogram code for rendering the generated shareable link to the attendeesof the event, and wherein the second computer program code is configuredto generate a machine-readable optical code comprising the shareablelink, wherein the machine-readable optical code comprises one of a quickresponse code and a barcode.
 39. The non-transitory, computer-readablestorage medium of claim 35 further comprises a seventh computer programcode for displaying the generated online portal on electronic devices ofthe attendees of the event that access the generated online portalthrough the generated shareable link in one of a plurality of formats.40. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 38,wherein the third computer program code acquires the media from theelectronic devices of the agreeing attendees via media request elementson the displayed online portal through one of a live capture of themedia and an access of stored media with an optional media enhancement.41. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium of claim 35,wherein the third computer program code further acquires one or more of:post-event feedback from the attendees; and acquiring pre-event feedbackfrom the attendees.